


A certain step

by azul_ora



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Dancing, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azul_ora/pseuds/azul_ora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the things Jim had expected to learn on his time aboard the Enterprise, traditional Scottish country dancing had not been one of them. Unluckily (or perhaps luckily) for him, Scotty’s birthday celebrations were very over the top.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A certain step

The first year, not a single dance had worked. There had been a lot of tripping and falling (and quite a bit of swearing, in various languages) and after the first three most people simply gave up and got very drunk. Scotty optimistically invited Spock, who, predictably, didn’t show up. Jim knew this from what other people had told him, as Scotty’s fondness for alcohol plus the stress of being captain he was, as of yet, unused to meant he didn’t remember a thing after midnight (all the stuff before midnight was there, albeit extremely blurry) except the killer hangover he woke up with the next morning. Thankfully, the reports of him stumbling in the middle of the night towards the captain’s quarters with a yeoman in tow no longer troubled him when he discovered he did not, in fact, have sex with said yeoman, but had apparently had a four a.m. chat about the meaning of life before falling asleep.

* * *

The second year had gone a little better. Spock had showed up (even if he’d only stood in the corner the entire time, without eating, drinking or dancing at all), and Jim could actually remember it, which was always a plus. As he recalled, the Military Two-Step (as he had later discovered it was called) had worked pretty well after a couple of tries, being a very simple, very repetitive dance, while the Eightsome reel was an absolute disaster. To its credit though, no-one had tripped, so that was something. Sulu had accidentally kicked one of the members of his group during the latter dance, but Jim actually remembered the second year, which was a plus – he’d gotten quite drunk, but not so hammered that he couldn’t remember it. Clearly it hadn’t gone so badly if he hadn’t felt the need to get absolutely shitfaced afterwards. In fact, the one who came worst out of the second year was Uhura. Apparently, getting totally smashed was her way of getting over the breakup. Jim knew it really was mutual, but nonetheless, she had loved Spock at least a little and who was he to blame here for drinking away her problems, even for one night? It was what he would have done.

* * *

And it was what he did. The third year was a mess. Jim didn’t remember a thing. Bones had genuinely asked if Jim was alright after he hadn’t reacted to the threat of a hypo. The reason for said lack of reaction being that he had just concluded (to his absolute horror) that his First Officer was looking perfectly fuckable. And not one-night-stand-quick-fuck-and-leave-before-the-other-person-wakes-up kind of fuckable, the kind of fuckable where you share a bed and live together and make the other one breakfast in the morning.

In other words, Jim (never one to be able to peg his emotions very fast) had just realised he was in love with his First Officer.

Said First Officer had sat quietly at the back, sipping some kind of non-alcoholic drink and eating an undefined Vulcan dish, and once again not dancing. Jim had been pissed off and dejected and horrified and had needed an excuse to get really, _really_ drunk. According to Uhura, he’d sat miserably at one side, going through a month’s worth of alcohol in one night. He’d then been dragged away by Bones who’d been convinced he was going to give himself alcohol poisoning and die. Jim had woken up in Sickbay at about 1 the next afternoon, feeling completely and totally shit.

* * *

The fourth year had actually been halfway to working. The Eightsome reel and the Military Two-Step had been pulled off without a hitch. Dashing White Sargeant had been, as Scotty had predicted, an organised mess of people who didn’t really know what they were meant to be doing spinning around in rapidly changing groups of six. After that, feeling very dizzy, Jim had sat out and simply watched while the Gay Gordons formed a messy oval in the hall. Unfortunately, the huge number of people plus the spinning and very rapid steps ended in a pile-up of no less than a third of the dancers. After that, people converged on the drinks and the food. Jim had idly chatted with Uhura and Bones for the most of the evening, and once again, Spock had turned up and simply sat at the back, sipping a drink and not participating in any of the dances.

* * *

The fifth year was the most notable for many reasons.

Firstly, because it was nearly the end of the five-year mission and everyone was aware that this might be the last of Scotty’s ceilidhs they’d ever attend, the excitement in the air was definitely higher than usual.

Secondly, Jim hadn’t gotten very drunk. He’d had plenty of food but only a little beer. That was after the dancing, though.

The third reason was the dancing itself.

The Military Two-Step and Eightsome reel had worked fine. After last year’s disasters, they’d managed to get to the end of Dashing White Sargeant and the Gay Gordons without anyone tripping, falling, getting kicked, slapped or otherwise injured. Jim had counted that quite an achievement. Then Scotty had suggested Strip The Willow to finish off, and they’d managed to convince Spock to join in with one dance (convinced: see _argued with for twenty minutes until Spock had finally agreed only to get Jim to shut up_ ). But they had convinced him nonetheless. What they had overlooked (at least until the dance started) was that Strip The Willow was primarily a couples’ dance.

Scotty had started it off, partnering with Uhura to show everyone how to do it. They’d gotten the gist pretty quickly: it was a fast dance, but not a particularly complicated one. The only thing Strip the Willow required was a good deal of coordination between the two dancers in the third and fourth sections. After Uhura and Scotty had demonstrated, Keenser had started the music, and Sulu and Chekov were the first pair. After linking their way up and down the lines three times, Sulu had broken the restrictions of the dance by spinning a grinning Chekov back to the bottom before the two skipped up for eight and formed the arch with their arms. The lines quickly filed through and formed again with the two at the top. Sulu planted a gentle kiss on Chekov’s lips before they stepped back into their places as a delighted-looking Carol and a decidedly less delighted-looking Bones began. When the lines filed through once more, Jim found himself facing a slightly startled-looking Spock who promptly turned slightly green as the blonde stepped forwards and began to spin him, before swapping over to link arms with a security officer – was his name Alex or Ali? – who seemed to be restraining a chuckle as he spun with the Captain.

Jim worked his way up the line until he reached Sulu who gave him a blatant laugh as he spun Jim before releasing him back to Spock who swirled his partner before Jim bounced back to Bones. Said doctor flicked his eyes at the Vulcan waiting behind him as the blonde stepped back to Spock, linking arms once more as he began working his way back down the line, Jim spinning the Vulcan every other turn. They reached the bottom of the line and then began the most confusing thing Jim had ever done, spinning back and forth between the line and a slightly out-of-time Spock until they were at the top again. Bones smirked and then Jim remembered about Vulcan hands and oh _shit_ but it was way too late so Jim just grabbed Spock’s hands in the cross-hold and practically dragged the Vulcan (who had gone bright green and, it seemed, temporarily lost the ability to breathe) down the lines for eight. And as they began to go back up for eight the thought came unbidden to Jim’s mind of Spock kissing him in much the same way that Sulu had kissed Chekov and then they stretched their arms up into the arch and as people quickly began to duck through Spock was subtly repositioning their fingers into the _ozh'esta_ and now it was Jim struggling to breath because _Good God, Spock was actually_ kissing _him_ and then Bones was ducking through and giving Jim that smile that was halfway between knowing and annoyed and as Bones took his place beside Jim Spock let their arms drop in favour of placing his hands on Jim’s face. The human just had time to register the mind-meld and the words _Taluhk nash-veh k'dular_ echo through his mind before Spock’s lips were brushing against his own, soft and warm and gentle and only for a second before he broke away, stepping back into place, the next couple of dancers already working their way up the lines.

Jim bounced from one foot to another throughout the rest of the dance, steadfastly ignoring the knowing looks Bones kept shooting him until thank God the music finally ended and the lines dissipated and Jim stepped straight over to Spock and curled one hand around the nape of his neck, filling his mind with all the love and the longing Spock had brought him for three years, knowing he could feel it through the contact. Spock’s lips parted as the force of Jim’s affection hit him like a freight train and Jim pulled Spock into another kiss, gentle and slow and sweet. After a second of static shock, the Vulcan kissed back, trying to communicate through the chaste kiss what he couldn’t through his mind. One hand slipped to Jim’s cheek, the other finding its home around his waist, pulling them flush together for a second and then Jim broke the kiss. Spock opened eyes that he didn’t remember closing and Jim stared at him, red-faced, and then rested his forehead against Spock’s.

“I cherish thee, huh?” His voice was quiet.

“I was unaware that your understanding of Vulcan was sufficient to translate the phrase.”

“Oi! I can do the academic stuff too. Besides, I know enough to know the equivalent of I love you. And I you, ashayam.”

“Jim,” Spock whispered, unable to come up with anything else. “T’hy’la.” Jim opened his eyes, blue staring into brown. “Be mine?” The question was soft, unsure, shaky.

“Of course. Always.”

If there was a slight flutter in Spock’s side at those words, well, no-one needed to know about that.

And if the corners of his mouth tugged upwards ever so minutely in a smile, well, no-one needed to know about that either.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't own 'em - if I did, it would be a lot more diverse.  
> For anyone who doesn’t know, a ceilidh is a Scottish event where people come together to dance, generally followed by eating and drinking.  
> I’m familiar with all of the dances mentioned, and I’ve tried to describe them as accurately as possible. There are of course various versions of all these dances (in particular Strip the Willow, as it is almost fully described – the version I’ve described is the more complicated version: there is a simpler version which is also fairly common).  
> Title is from the quote 'To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.' by Jane Austen.


End file.
